Hi so I am using an XR-640 and Versaworks and one main issue that we are having is that the alignment of the cutlines is off. I did a Print-Cut Alignment and the cut lines sit perfectly into the square. But when I do a set of laminated decals that has a print area of about 52"x 40" the cutlines is off about 1mm up to .125". And another odd thing is that sometimes the beginning and the end of the set are completely off but the middle rows are perfectly cut. Any ideas on how to fix this?
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Cut misalignment on XR-640
- Thread starter mikalh78
- Start date
GrushinAnton
New Member
If your printer is so old (more then 3 years) please change Pinch Rollers (IMHO) I had a same problem on my 3 y.o. VS-640 and its help.
Schickworks
New Member
Is this problem when you take out the material to laminate it then put it back in and cut it or a straight print and cut (no lam in between). the solution is different for both.
You won't ever fix this problem, this is a Roland problem. We saw their cutters at SGIA cut this far off too, asked them about it and they balked that we even noticed. You have to cut under 36" or you're going to see some cuts being off more than you want. Welcome to Roland, nice printers, inaccurate contour cutting, something they can't ever try to solve once and for all.
Currently having the exact same issue with our brand new VS540i as well. Print/Cut align shows perfect. When you go to laminate and put it back to read crop marks, there isn't two stickers that are alike. Doesn't matter how short the run is (most of our runs are sticker runs 2ft to 3ft) one was so far off it was cut all the way outside the bleed. But then in the furthest top left corner the last one sticker was spot on. No consistency at all, as we reprinted that job - laminated - recut and every cut was off in a different direction than the first run.
Tech coming out for second time tomorrow. I'm confident he can fix it...Hoping so!
Tech coming out for second time tomorrow. I'm confident he can fix it...Hoping so!
It won't ever be perfect...sadly. Watch how many excuses they make when your cuts are off by 1/16" or more after the tech leaves. Some of our favorite excuses - "add more bleed to your designs" "Do shorter runs" "Do this crop mark thing where crop marks are printed every 6 inches"
What it comes down to is a list of cop outs from Roland that you will believe, and adjust to, because you either have to, or you buy an external (non Roland) cutter, this is an issue that they have had for probably 10 years now, and no one there has cared to fix it, which is sad because they advertise "production perfected" except half the machine is basically worthless if you want any kind of cutting accuracy from it. Their onboard "print / cut tune up" option your tech will do, where it prints a graph and then cuts into it, will be an absolute joke. Of course the machine will cut accurately 2" up the vinyl and right across from the cutting head.
We quit using their onboard cutters after having 3 Flagship SolJet printers, and NONE of them would be accurate no matter what we tried. You're wasting your time trying too, unfortunately. When we saw their external cutters cutting just as far off at the SGIA show last year as our SolJets (off by over 1/16", maybe even 1/8" on a run that wasn't that long), that was my final straw, if they called that "acceptable" and were proud to sell a machine that did THAT, then that's it for us, no more on board cutting for us since, and no problems since moving away from Roland cutting devices. We have a brand new Pro 4 and the cutter has never been used on it, because I'm embarrassed to sell products that are mis cut at random intervals, every. single. run.
What it comes down to is a list of cop outs from Roland that you will believe, and adjust to, because you either have to, or you buy an external (non Roland) cutter, this is an issue that they have had for probably 10 years now, and no one there has cared to fix it, which is sad because they advertise "production perfected" except half the machine is basically worthless if you want any kind of cutting accuracy from it. Their onboard "print / cut tune up" option your tech will do, where it prints a graph and then cuts into it, will be an absolute joke. Of course the machine will cut accurately 2" up the vinyl and right across from the cutting head.
We quit using their onboard cutters after having 3 Flagship SolJet printers, and NONE of them would be accurate no matter what we tried. You're wasting your time trying too, unfortunately. When we saw their external cutters cutting just as far off at the SGIA show last year as our SolJets (off by over 1/16", maybe even 1/8" on a run that wasn't that long), that was my final straw, if they called that "acceptable" and were proud to sell a machine that did THAT, then that's it for us, no more on board cutting for us since, and no problems since moving away from Roland cutting devices. We have a brand new Pro 4 and the cutter has never been used on it, because I'm embarrassed to sell products that are mis cut at random intervals, every. single. run.
rjssigns
Active Member
Could be there is not enough nip pressure.(how hard the rollers push down) May not have been set correctly at the factory. Made a huge difference on my SP540V.
Also load your material square everytime.(there is a method) Do not depend on the Sheet Cut function. Sheet Cut will cut a perfectly straight line, but that does no good if you didn't load the material correctly. Or run consecutive jobs without realigning the material every couple sheets.
Another thing you may want to run is a Sensor Check. Had one of the Paper Interrupts go out. Replaced it, ran the calibrations and that made a difference. Prints exactly where it is supposed to now.
Try this: Take your time and make a test sheet that is as square as you can get it. I make mine 54" x 48".
Line up the lead edge with the separation line of the front platen. Run a test print that uses the Cut Contour marks. Simple as filling the space with squares with no fill.(you only need outlines)
Once it is done printing get your printers ruler and use either the MM or points side and carefully measure where everything "landed" on the page and write it down.
That will give you clues as to where the printer is failing to hold register.
Also get yourself a loupe and check the dot pattern on the contour cut targets, and look for fringing. In simple terms if they do not look perfect under magnification there is part of your problem. The printer is not holding register which compounds as the job runs.
Final note: Just because something is brand new does not mean it isn't messed up right out of the box.
Also load your material square everytime.(there is a method) Do not depend on the Sheet Cut function. Sheet Cut will cut a perfectly straight line, but that does no good if you didn't load the material correctly. Or run consecutive jobs without realigning the material every couple sheets.
Another thing you may want to run is a Sensor Check. Had one of the Paper Interrupts go out. Replaced it, ran the calibrations and that made a difference. Prints exactly where it is supposed to now.
Try this: Take your time and make a test sheet that is as square as you can get it. I make mine 54" x 48".
Line up the lead edge with the separation line of the front platen. Run a test print that uses the Cut Contour marks. Simple as filling the space with squares with no fill.(you only need outlines)
Once it is done printing get your printers ruler and use either the MM or points side and carefully measure where everything "landed" on the page and write it down.
That will give you clues as to where the printer is failing to hold register.
Also get yourself a loupe and check the dot pattern on the contour cut targets, and look for fringing. In simple terms if they do not look perfect under magnification there is part of your problem. The printer is not holding register which compounds as the job runs.
Final note: Just because something is brand new does not mean it isn't messed up right out of the box.
Schickworks
New Member
Sorry you've been having such bad experiences. We are on our 3rd Roland printer now (pro IV currently) and we always had great success.
I'm with you....I think sticker cutting is blowing it out of proportion. I'm sure it can be dialed in. I know it can...
toomeycustoms
New Member
I have to agree with stickercutting. We have a Sc-545, XR-640 and a GX-640. I am constantly let down by Roland being 1/16" off on all three machines. I've spent hours manually adjusting the print/cut setting and sending test prints/cut and still end up off on either the left side of the sheet or last half of the sheet. We should have just shelled out the extra $ and gone with a Summa instead of the GX-640.
Yes, the GX640 was WAY OFF at the SGIA show, which tells me, Roland calls this "dead on" in their book. Even when I asked the Roland salesman / guy pitching the machine about it, he made some poor excuse. I laughed and walked away, knowing that the gx640 has the same flaws as their other cutters do. To me it's the poor 4 dot registration system and the lack of software programming to account for any kind of shift in the material from printing, lamination and rolands terrible track record for being able to track a piece of media straight for any length at all.
The cuts on our brand new VS540i are crooked when they should be going straight back. Somehow....don't know if it's a pinch roller issue/feed issue or what, but the sheet on a print/cut job (without crop marks) must be rolling crooked through the machine as it goes back and forth. Day 8 on this new machine, still not fixed. If we make it to day 12, we're sending it back.
I can't even print/cut a 9" deep run on this thing right now because the cuts are so bad.
I can't even print/cut a 9" deep run on this thing right now because the cuts are so bad.
here's a picture of stickers that were print cut in a 9" run on 8mm/second cut speed (super slow). You can see it's not even cutting straight back?
Feed cut is off, they're cut crooked and they're not even off the same amount from right to left side of the printer. Nothing consistent whatsoever. We're a sticker business....and I haven't run prints in 8 days. Well I have, but I certainly am not planning on selling any of them looking like this
Feed cut is off, they're cut crooked and they're not even off the same amount from right to left side of the printer. Nothing consistent whatsoever. We're a sticker business....and I haven't run prints in 8 days. Well I have, but I certainly am not planning on selling any of them looking like this
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dlndesign
New Member
I've tried placing a small piece of backer paper on the print before laminating, then cutting the around it after it was laminated, revealing the registration marks. This usually registers correctly and with little off - cuts. I think it has to do with the laser and its refracting back through the laminate and getting misaligned. Not sure if this is the ultimate solution. Also, keeping the pressure consistent on all pinch rollers, sometimes that laminate may slip a bit when the rollers are going over it.
Hope that may help.
Hope that may help.
Waste of time. This is not a reasonable solution for real production shops. Machines without issues don't need lame "fixes" like this.
hyperdrive
New Member
I have bleed boarders of .030 on my xr.. Spot on every time. I limit my multi cut decals to 60 inches long..Never an issue... My sp300 i have bleeds of .015 also never an issue.. Im like stickercutter...anal about print /cut registration.. I use 60 degree cutter blades on everything.. it just works.
Do you find the 60 degree blade on non-lam and lam jobs have greater accuracy? I've never tried it, but I'm willing to if you're telling me you get better accuracy?
Jack Knight1979
New Member
I have never ran a print/cut machine. Currently I am running a 25,000 piece job on a stand alone Roland cutter. Everything is laminated and running on a gx-500. The trick to solid cuts for me is making sure the media is DEAD ON when feeding. The slightest walk and it's over. At most I get about 1mm off on cuts. Sure it has botched up cuts bad and been off a quarter inch. That is rare and my error in setting up the machine.
I run entire rolls though the GX-500 in 47"x64" blocks. Anything over that, and it won't cut accurately now matter how straight the roll is fed into the machine. I've probably thrown out about 75 pieces thus far. I am about 23,000 pieces into the job.
I realize that we are talking about different rolands, but hopefully the tracking will assist you with your problem.
I run entire rolls though the GX-500 in 47"x64" blocks. Anything over that, and it won't cut accurately now matter how straight the roll is fed into the machine. I've probably thrown out about 75 pieces thus far. I am about 23,000 pieces into the job.
I realize that we are talking about different rolands, but hopefully the tracking will assist you with your problem.